Prologue(Larvae)
An incredible vista lay before the three boys as they hiked forward (and up). James, Regan, and Adam were on a hunt for crystals in the (Arkansas) July heat. In James’s hand the synthetic grip of his Super Comanche .410 gauge pistol sat, ready for any snakes that might want to make their presence known to the boys... Or any other living thing for that matter. “That is a huge hill!” Regan said, expressing the sentiment with frustrated gestures... “And the best quartz is at the top...” James said, not wanting to condescend Regan. Regan and James’s friendship was superficial at best, but James liked Regan, so he’d try his hardest to become a better friend... It had taken an act of congress to persuade Regan that this trip would be fun... Luckily Regan’s love for crystals was as strong as it was, or he’d never have came. Adam, however, came without a hitch... Adam and James were really good friends... Their friendship was sealed the moment that they’d flipped an ATV atop the both of them. “Chill Regan... Weren’t you in track or something?” Adam asked, pausing to pick up a clear piece of quartz. “Yea... Dude, let me see that!” he said, holding his hand out for the quartz piece. Adam dropped it in Regan’s palm and his eyes lit up. “Are there more of these up there?” he asked, gesturing up the hill. “Yup. Probably better ones than that.” James said. For most of the entirety of the trip up the hill Regan was quiet... Save for the time in which he found a piece of quartz. “Dude! Look at this!” he practically shouted to James, who was standing less than four feet away. “What?” James said, walking toward his outstretched hand. He held a perfect black piece of onyx between his fingers. It was almost a perfectly formed crystal, save for the place where it had come dislodged from its mother rock. “What the heck is this?” Adam said, his voice at an odd pitch. James and Regan automatically diverted their amazement to walk toward Adam. Adam was staring, horrified, some ten yards up the hill from him. They rounded a corner to see a yorkie sized (the full sized yorkies) corpse laying at Adams feet. It was large and chitinous, its face resembled a skull. Its bottom jaw was divided in half and opened diagonally away from each other. There were no visible eyes, although atop the head the chitin-like skull had a hole that held a fleshy substance. James automatically thought of the Tremors movies... Something about the fleshy part made him remember the ‘Shriekers’ that saw via heat sensing organs in relatively the same spot on their head. “It looks like a cricket.” Regan said. “What? This looks nothing like a cricket.” James said, losing all pretense of careful politics between he and Regan. “Look at its legs...” Regan said. All six of its legs were large and muscled like a crickets, or a grasshopper’s, albeit hard and spined and a bluish white chitin with mottled black spots. “You’re right.” James said, admitting the mistake... “We better bring it with us. The sheriff will want to see it.” Adam said, knowing that the Sheriff didn’t like odd things happening in his county... First that cattle killer and now this! Adam picked the body off of the ground and suddenly the air was filled with a shriek. The unholy sound was followed by James seeing some movement in the periphery of his vision. James thumbed back the Comanche’s hammer and blew the jumping creature from the air. “It brought friends.” James said gravely. Thus began their run down the hill. “Brent!” James shouted into his iPhone... Brent had brought them here (in his Jeep) and he, along with Ryan (Adam’s twin), went down to The Slab to fish. ~ “What?” Brent asked standing on the large slab of granite. Its beautiful mosaic surface was covered in prickly-pear cacti, lichens, and flowering vines that clung to its almost smooth surface. Ryan stood at its edge, ignoring Brent’s warnings of slippery and reeling fiercely as if he had a fish. “Oh, really... Well I guess we’ll get there as fast as we can...” he said, shutting his phone. “What was...” was Ryan’s reply that faded into a short aaaahhh and then a splash. “Oh you’ve got to be kidding me...” Brent said, using his trademark tone with his trademark line. Brent walked over to the edge, taking care to brace himself with a branch. Ryan was in the water spitting and sputtering as if the water had been cold. “Its gotta be like bath water Ryan, why are you freaking out?” Brent asked. “It freezing down here!?!” he exclaimed, genuine cold causing his jaws to chatter. “Huh... Must be a spring or something...” Brent said, genuinely uninterested. “What did James want?” he chattered after he’d extricated himself from the frigid water. “He said that something weird was going on and we’d have to leave...” Brent said, making a scrunchy face and shrugging. ~ As the desert-camo Jeep pulled around the corner into the three boys’ view something large and gray rolled out of the bushes. Although Brent had tried to apply the breaks it hadn’t worked as well as he’d hoped and they smashed into the large whitish-gray hunk. James, Regan, and Adam ran toward where the Jeep had stopped. Before they got past the big, rock-like mass it began to unroll, giant plates of chitinous material sliding past each other was squeals and groans of protest... What unrolled before them was not unlike a giant pill bug. Its face was like the skull of some huge carnivorous beast, with holes for eyes, but none to speak of. It was made from the same chitin-like substance as the cricket thing by the looks of it. Its legs were enormous, squat limbs like that of an enormous crab, save for the fact that there were only two and they were low to the ground. It opened its mouth and revealed a tongue like device about as big around as a coffee can with barbed hooks at the end. On the forehead of the beast was what looked to be a flesh-like indention... The beast let out a guttural groan and reared up onto the Jeep and began lashing with its bone-like jaws (the bottom one split into two pieces like the cricket’s). The metal peeled like a wrapper at the beasts invasive jaws... Brent gazed from the cab of the rocking Jeep, in awe of the creature’s sheer power and force. “Brent!” Ryan shouted. The shotgun that lay on the console lay still. Ryan would have grabbed it and stopped the beast, but Brent’s hand was rapped firmly around it. “What?” he said, gazing shocked at something that he’d never seen and he knew couldn’t possibly exist... “Kill it!” Ryan shouted. “The guys are in front of it...” he said. This was the truth, but this wasn’t why he didn’t shoot it... Brent was scared stiff... A loud and lonesome bang snapped Brent’s attention toward the guys standing in front of the beast. James held the Comanche at arms length, its barrel still smoking. He reloaded it, opting for a .45 Long Colt caliber instead of the shotgun. He aimed for the beast's leg and fired. A wail that tore at the boys’ ears issued forth from the beast's mouth. Thick black blood poured from the things right back leg. “What the hell is that!” Regan exclaimed. “That is a roly-poly bug.” Adam observed. James didn’t really think that there was a difference between a roly-poly and a pill bug... The beast turned around and made another guttural noise before limping toward them. “James, hurry!” Regan said worriedly. “Um... Second that...” Adam added. “I’m trying!” James said, frantically reloading the single shot gun. Once again the .45 would have been appreciated, but all that was left was a three and a half inch .410 shell. James realized he would have to practically press the barrel of the pistol to the beasts fleshy spot if he was actually planning on killing it. So he stood and waited. And right as it was upon him the did. And with its last death-shrieks it died. “I’m going to need a new pair of pants.” Regan said comically before flopping to the ground. The hefted the gigantic carcass (it was around the size of a wild boar, a large one) into the back of the jeep. “Hey Adam, bring the cricket with you.” James said... Adam produced the corpse almost automatically. “Great.” They began their drive home. From somewhere in the pine-woods however, shrieks issued.